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Hillary Clinton’s ‘Medicare for More’ Proposal

Hillary Clinton is stepping to the left on healthcare, expressing support for allowing people younger than 65 to buy into Medicare. (The Hill)

The option would permit younger people to pay part of the cost of Medicare coverage until they reach full coverage age, thus expanding less expensive insurance to more Americans. (BenefitsPro)

For months during the Democratic presidential nominating contest, Hillary Clinton has resisted calls from Senator Bernie Sanders to back a single-payer health system, arguing that the fight for government-run health care was a wrenching legislative battle that had already been lost. (New York Times)

Sanders has argued that while the Affordable Care Act is a good start in expanding the availability of health care insurance, it still leaves tens of millions of Americans uninsured. He has described his pricey national health care proposal as “Medicare for all,” in effect providing Medicare-quality health care coverage to all Americans, regardless of their age or income levels. (The Fiscal Times)

Per capita Medicare spending would likely decline under Clinton’s proposal, since the new entrants will be younger and healthier than those 65-plus. Yet since the government is insuring more people in total, overall costs to the program would likely rise. (Money)